Johnson & Johnson agreed in the middle of a trial to pay more than $2 million to resolve a woman’s claims that asbestos-laced baby powder caused her cancer, according to people familiar with the case. The settlement marks a rare decision by the drugmaker to cut a deal while fighting thousands of similar claims.
J&J scored a big win last month in a talc case in St. Louis, where it had been hit with a $4.7 billion verdict in 2018 on behalf of more than 20 women blaming their cancers on its baby powder. In the December trial, jurors rejected a woman’s claim her ovarian cancer was tied to use of J&J’s talc-based powder.
